Splash inlands

The weather was supposed to be showery with thunder but turned out dry with very light breezes varying in strength from Force 1 to zero for the Splash inlands at Alton Water Reservoir last weekend.

After a very slow start in the first race, James Large led Chris Schonhut around the first mark. With a wind flurry coming up from behind Tom Marfleet managed to get into second place, with newcomer to the Splash Class Todd Grady coming in third, the race being cut short after the first round.

The second race started with a light westerly wind which promised a beat up to the first mark, however, the varying wind meant that those who stayed in the middle of the reservoir came up to the mark first, Todd Grady rounding the mark ahead of James with Chris in third. Just behind were some of the young newcomers to the class Anne Jessop, Nathan Ackroyd and Victoria Marfleet. James held onto his lead winning from Todd with Chris third.

The third race, held on the same course, saw Todd Grady in the lead for most of the race, but losing several places when he lost the tiller near the end of the race, James Large winning with Nathan Ackroyd second, David Jessop third and Victoria Marfleet coming in fourth. The next day (Sunday) was bright and sunny, with a south-westerly wind varying from Force 2-4 during the day, giving much better conditions for racing. In the first race James Large got a good start from the middle of the line, followed closely by David Jessop and Tom Marfleet. Todd Grady and Ben Marfleet failed to go through the line at the end of the lap, Todd retiring and James being disqualified. James just beat David followed by Tom and Pippa Girling coming in fourth.

The fifth race saw a stronger wind, this gave Dave Jessop an edge and he led the way around followed closely by Tom Marfleet with James about 50m behind. By the second round David Matthews had got into third place and this was how the race finished.

The sixth and final race proved to be the most interesting of the day. After one general recall Charlotte Hadden led the fleet followed closely by Anne Jessop. At the end of the second round Charlotte still led with Nathan Ackroyd having fought into second place with Tom Marfleet close behind. On the last round Charlotte lost out in the variable and shifting wind conditions on the beat and Nathan took line honours from Tom and David Jessop.

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